Well, I do not give my dogs sugar, very little wheat, crisco (nobody deserves that) or dairy so I wouldn't. I don't know about pumpkin.
Ask the people over on the pet forum and they will have some good recipes. I give my dogs Wellness dogfood...try looking at their website and reading the ingredients for various products and their philosophy on food to get some ideas of what dogs need.

I think there is a dab of sugar in most commercially produced dog treats. I have not heard that pumpkin is bad for dogs, and I see no problem with the rest of the ingredients in your recipe.

Here is one that I have made many times, my furbabies love them! Originally posted by Marlen, a forum member who passed on a few years ago.

Fido's Favorite Treats

1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons chicken or beef instant bullion
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese ( 1 cup)
1 egg, beaten
2 cups white or wheat flour
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl combone rolled oats, margarine and water; let stand for 10 minutes. Sitr in cornmeal, sugar, boullion, milk,cheese and egg. Mix well. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition to form stiff dough.

On floured surface, knead in remaining flour until dough is smooth and no longer sticky, 3 to 4 minutes. Roll or pat out dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut with cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Store loosely covered. Makes 3 1/2 dozen large biscuits.

One year I bought cookie cutters in the shapes of a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever (to look like my dogs) and made a bunch of these to give to my sister's dogs for Christmas!

Linda

The pumpkin is great. I'm not comfortable with the Crisco.

This is a favorite dog-people treat I've baked for gifts:

Peanut-Banana Biscotti

-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped peanuts -- (up to 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg -- lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups pureed bananas
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
water

Preheat the oven to 325 and set a rack on the middle level. Have ready one or two ungreased nonstick baking sheets. (Or line regular baking sheets with parchment paper.)

MIx the flour, peanuts and baking soda together in a large bowl. Gradually stir in the remaining ingredients, except the water, until lumpy but blended. Add enough water, a teaspoon at a time, to make a stiff dough. Knead by hand until thoroughly mixed. (Or blend everything in a food processor.)

For very large biscotti, form the dough into 2 logs, each about 2 1/2 inches high, placing one on each baking sheet. Flatten each log so that it is 6 inches wide and 1 inch high. For medium-size biscotti, form 4 logs, 2 on each sheet, and flatten each into loaves that are 3 inches wide and 1 inch high.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove to wire racks and let rest for 10 minutes. (Leave the oven on.)

Transfer the logs to a cutting board and slice into 1/2-3/4-inch pieces. (It's easiest to slice them on the diagonal, using a serrated bread knife.) Return the slices to the baking sheets and bake for about 20 minutes longer, turning once, until they are golden brown.

Cool on racks. Store in a tightly closed tin at room temperature.

Make 30 (large) or 60 (medium) dog (or people) biscuits.

Description:
"from The Best American Recipes 1999 by permission from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine."
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And here's another one from Rose Levy Beranbaum that's extra-healthy and makes a big batch. As long as they're not underbaked, they have excellent keeping qualities.

Bone á Fidos

Categories : Dog Treats Gift Giving

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast -- (1 envelope)
1/4 cup warm water
pinch sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour -- (dip and sweep method)
2 cups whole-wheat flour -- (dip and sweep method)
2 cups cracked wheat -- (dip and sweep method) OR
1 cup cornmeal -- (dip and sweep method)
1 cup rye flour -- (dip and sweep method)
1/2 cup dry milk -- (lightly spooned into cup)
4 teaspoons kelp powder
4 cups beef or chicken broth

Glaze (optional)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk

Ingredients by weight:
7 grams dry yeast -- (.25 oz.)
59 grams warm water -- (2 oz.)
pinch sugar
500 grams all-purpose flour -- (1 lb. 1.5 oz.)
312 grams whole-wheat flour -- (11 oz.)
115 grams cracked wheat -- (4.5 oz.) OR
120 grams cornmeal -- (5 oz.)
145 grams rye flour -- (5.25 oz.)
50 grams nonfat dry milk -- (1.75 oz.)
4 teaspoons kelp powder
907 grams beef or chicken broth -- (2 lbs.)

Glaze (optional)
50 grams egg (shelled weight) -- (1.75 oz.)
30 grams milk -- (1 oz.)

Equipment: Cookie sheets lined with parchment or foil; rolling pin; 3- 3/12-inch bone cutter or 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter.

Place oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat to 300°.

Spinkle the yeast over the water (110°). Add a pinch of sugar and allow the yeast to sit in a draft-free spot for 10-20 minutes. The mixture should be full of bubbles. Stir well to dissolve the yeast.

In a large bowl place all the dry ingredients and stir to blend. Add the yeast mixture and 3 cups of the broth. Using your hands, mix to form the dough, adding more broth if needed to make the dough smooth and supple. Half a batch at a time, knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured counter. (Keep the second batch of dough covered with a moist towel while shaping and cutting the first.)

Roll out the dough into an 18-inch by 13-inch by 1/4-inch rectangle. Cut it into desired shapes, using either a bone cutter or round cookie cutter. Reroll the scraps. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough.

For an attractive shine, lightly beat together the egg and milk. Brush the glaze on the cookies.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until brown and firm. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom three quarters of the way through the baking period.

Use a small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Description:
"For gift-giving I use this recipe from Rose Levy Berenbaum's "Christmas Cookies.""
Yield:
"110 3 1/2-inch bones"
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I would give the pumpkin, our vet says it is a good additive to the regular dog food we feed our ... um, "plump" dog. He says it fills them up without fattening them up.
Personally, I would avoid the crisco and sugar, too, and I would check ANY recipe with the vet first...easy to call and I bet the doc doesn't even have to come to the phone.
Frankly, just about every single packaged treat out there contains sugar or corn syrup, I could only find one at pets smart. I don't give sugar to our dogs, but I'm not sure it is all that bad.

Also, this is a good thing to have on hand...
Never let a dog eat the following:
chocolate
onion
anti-freeze duh :)
mistletoe
raisins-not everyone agrees
garlic-not everyone agrees
coffee
mushrooms
roots and leaves of cherry and apple trees

I'm sure some of that list is obvious, but I thought it best to just put it out there.

There is a group out there specifically for home cooking for dogs!!! I haven't bothered to join because they allow non-members to view the messages. I think you can just do a search for Totally Home Cooking, but I forget how to get there now!!

Good luck!

Pumpkin is good for dogs, I would not worry about that little bit of sugar but I would use a light oil like grapeseed oil or butter instead of the Crisco. I would also increase the cinnamon to 1t and add some ground ginger, 1/2t. Almost all dogs LOVE spices.

I've baked lots of dog cookies and my last suggestion to you would be to bake them lower and longer, 325° or 350° for 20-30 minutes (depending on the temp) and then leave them in the oven with the heat turned off for another hour to fully dry out. When I can, I leave them in the oven, turned off, with the door opened just a little for several hours or overnight. They will keep much better if they are thoroughly dried out.

Your dogs will love you!

Lee

If your dog happens to show any allergic symptoms, I'd try making the original recipe with rye or oat flour instead of whole wheat. Wheat, corn, and soy are supposedly the holy trinity of dog allergens. And I'd maybe just leave out the sugar altogether. I have a sneaking suspicion that some dog recipes are formulated to taste acceptable to people--I don't know why! I only ever knew one person who ate dog biscuits, and he was just doing it for attention (it was the '60s).

From everything I read, the pumpkin is really good for them, though. Lots of fiber, and my dogs seem to adore the taste.

My dogs love pumpkin and so do my cats!

Even though these are dog treats so you would only be giving them a few a day, I think I would leave out the sugar and sub the crisco for butter as others have suggested.

And I would not make them TBL sized either, 1/2 tsp is plenty. I don't like giving my dogs large treats. A treat is just that a treat and should be small.

And Lee's suggestion of lower the temp and increasing the cooking time is exactly what I would do.

I make dog treats every year and put in a small bag and include in my Christmas Cookie Baskets. Make sure you label the bag as dog treats!

Michelle

As others have said, the pumpkin is awesome. I would personally avoid any recipe that called for crisco or meat (bacon!) drippings. My greyhound has nearly died from acute pancreatitis three times, and while none of these was associated with high fat, one can cause a pancreatitis attack in an otherwise healthy animal by giving them a high-fat meal (turkey skin, bacon, etc...). It's a painful awful thing that involves the body digesting itself and blood from both ends and... you get the picture...

I've baked dog treats before that involved baby food (beef or chicken) as the main ingredients. The dough was easy and non-revolting to work with, the treats were healthy, and the dogs loved them.